exploring heart and soul matters as I journey through the mind fields of life

Friday, May 8, 2009

HO'OPONOPONO

Forgive me,If I have hurt youin any way, shape or form,in thought, word or deed,in any time, any place,past, present or future,Forgive me.

And I forgive youFor hurting mein any way, shape or form,in thought word or deed,in any time, any place,past, present or future,I forgive you.

I forgive myself,And may the great MysteryForgive us both.

AMAMA, U A NOA – the prayer is freed.

copyright Rieckmann/Sakuma 1999.

Ho’oponopono means to make right (amongst other things - Hawaiian words have multiple layers of meaning).

This lovely prayer comes from Birgit Rieckmann and Harriette Sakuma – Lomi Practitioners and Lomi Hawaiian Bodywork Intensive facilitators. Lomi is Hawaiian Temple Bodywork – which they describe as a form of massage that is done when one is facing rites of passage to help align through love and compassion body, mind and spirit to your highest intention, connecting you to your inner wisdom allowing you to face change, challenges, and demands with renewed confidence, creativity and power.

Ho’oponopono was first introduced to me and practiced during the Lomi Teacher Training Intensive of 2005 as a forgiveness practice. When you forgive, you are residing in Love and God is love; so in this practice you are connecting to the most high within yourself.

Harriette said that we were coming together as promised eons ago for the purposes of healing ourselves and those in our lineage. As we heal ourselves the healing goes back 7 generations and forward 7 generations (the ancient Hawaiians knew that time is not linear). From my hypnosis training in past life regression we were taught that we travel together in groups through many lifetimes for the purpose of healing, clearing past karma and the evolution of consciousness – we have all been victims as well as victimizers therefore the ultimate responsibility for the path our life takes (our karma) through our interactions (thoughts, words and deeds) towards others is our own.

Thoughts are things so that even our thoughts have the power to hurt or heal, therefore we need to be aware of our thoughts and take responsibility for their consequences.

During the training we came together every night in a healing circle and recited these words together 3 times. Trainings are intense experiences; this one lasted 7 days, lots of mental/emotional/spiritual baggage rises from the subconscious to be healed. Sometimes you become conscious of your “stuff” and its impact on your interactions with others; at other times events, people, words, the smallest thing may trigger surprising emotions and hurtful actions and reactions. In reciting this prayer we acknowledge that in any relationship we all have hurt each other consciously or subconsciously, we feel remorse and take responsibility for our actions, receive and ask for forgiveness, let go and move on. Through this practice our subsequent actions become more aware and compassionate.

In the bodywork intensive of 2006 we were introduced to the Ho’oponopono practice of Dr. Ihalaekala Hew a Hawaiian therapist and psychologist who, we were told, cured a ward of criminally insane patients through the practice of Ho’oponopono. After studying an inmate’s chart he’d then look within himself to see how he created that person’s illness. As he improved, the patient improved.

He literally believed that the world and all that occurs is our own creation. In order to heal anything, we need to invoke the spirit of love to heal that which is within our own self that is creating the outer manifestation. Dr. Len did this by repeating over and over again…

I’M SORRY AND I LOVE YOU

And again last weekend, during my Lomilomi training Kahuna Harry Uhane Jimspoke about this forgiveness practice in even more sublte ways as one of many aspects that infuses lomilomi and ripples through our lives from that moment onwards in ways that we can not begin to imagine.

Anytime you reside in love, compassion and forgiveness you are raising your own vibration; inviting higher vibrations to inform your actions to do the healing work in whatever form it takes for body/mind/spirit, for yourself, for others, for the 7 generations and for the planet.

And, as is the nature of all subtle practices, knowing comes through your heart; its depths are beyond intellectual understanding.

Ahhh magical and cool!

Mahalo to Harriette Sakuma, Birgit Rieckmann, and Kahuna Harry Uhane Jim for sharing this wisdom and work with us.

For more info about their work - Lomi, and Hawaiian Bodywork Intensives contact Hariette and Birgit at lomilife@hotmail.com